Injury derails Abrines’ hot shooting vs. Bucks

got off to a sizzling start. But his night ended early. The Thunder guard had smashed out of a shooting funk in Tuesday’s game against the Bucks before he was sidelined with a leg injury.

With a little more than six minutes remaining in the second quarter, Milwaukee’s dove for a loose ball, and his shoulder hit Abrines’ left knee, sending Abrines to the court.

Trainer teammate helped Abrines off the floor, and he had a noticeable limp as he walked to the tunnel and back toward the locker room.

Abrines did not return, sidelined with what the

and Thunder called a left knee sprain.

That ended a red-hot night for the rookie, who scored a game-high-tying 12 points in the first half on 4-of-6 shooting, all from 3-point range.

The 12 points were the most Abrines has scored in a game since he had 13 in a March 3 loss at Phoenix.

Abrines entered Tuesday night shooting 29.4 percent since the start of March and 21.7 percent in his previous nine games.

But after missing his first 3-point try on Tuesday, he sank four straight, three of them in a span of 1:03 in the second quarter.

Abrines four firsthalf 3-pointers, Abrines moved his season total to 89. That’s four shy of tying Thunder rookie record.

College try

made it just in time.

The Thunder forward took advantage of a free Monday and jetted to Arizona, arriving at University of Phoenix Stadium just in time for the NCAA Tournament championship game.

Gonzaga, where Sabonis played his two collegiate seasons before entering the NBA Draft last spring, lost to North Carolina, but the rookie still enjoyed his Monday night.

“I was really into it,” Sabonis said. “It was awesome just seeing the Zags playing for a championship ... It really means a lot to Spokane.”

It was a game played in fits and starts. An analysis by The Wall Street Journal revealed the teams spent 14 second-half minutes shooting free throws, plus almost 13 in media timeouts, and Sabonis admitted it was “pretty hard to watch.”

But still, he got a thrill from seeing his alma mater in its first-ever Final Four, playing for a title against one of college basketball’s blue bloods.

The Bulldogs reached a regional final in Sabonis’ freshman season before losing to Duke. Last season, his Zags lost to Syracuse in the Sweet 16.

There was a part of Sabonis that wishes he could have helped out Monday night.

“They’re still all my teammates from last year on the team,” he said. “And I’m still close with them, so yeah of course.”

Quick turnaround

The Thunder gets little rest following Tuesday’s game against the Bucks, with a game Wednesday in Memphis. Oklahoma City is 4-9 this season in the second game of a backto-back and has one more back-to-back remaining.

It’ll play at Minnesota on April 11 and at home against Denver on April 12, the final two games of the regular season.